For Jimi Manuwa, the wait was not only worth it, it was the best thing for him.

When most fighters get a call asking them to fight in the UFC, they jump at the chance. Not Manuwa. He had a pair of opportunities and turned them down before making his debut this past fall.

Simply put, he didn’t believe he was ready before.

But at UFC on FUEL TV 5 in September, with a doctor’s stoppage TKO of Kyle Kingsbury, Manuwa (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Manuwa announced his presence – and also confirmed to himself that his decisions to hold off until then were the right ones.

“I’ve gained a lot of experience in training and upped my game in areas I wanted to up my game,” Manuwa told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of passing on the UFC twice prior to 2012. “I think I’ve definitely become a better fighter, as well, since then. I think it did me good to turn them down and have a couple more fights and gain some experience.”

But even though he waited until he was good and ready, Manuwa still had a few nerves before his fight with Kingsbury, which took place in Nottingham in his home country of England.

And for that, he was glad when it was over so he could move on to the next one.

“I was really excited to get a win over a tough opponent like Kyle Kingsbury, just to get the first fight out of the way and look forward to the next fight and get all the jitters out,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I had a lot of jitters. To be honest, it was just another fight for me. But in the back of my mind, I thought it’s my first UFC fight and I had to make a statement. I’m happy the fight went the way it did.”

Manuwa next faces Cyrille Diabate (19-8-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) on Saturday at UFC on FUEL TV. The light heavyweights fight at Wembley Arena in London on the main card, which airs on FUEL TV following prelims on Facebook.

For Diabate, a left-handed striker, Manuwa did plenty of prep work with southpaws, as well as with taller fighters. The 6-foot-6 Diabate will have a 5-inch height and 6-inch reach advantage over Manuwa.

“I was working some southpaws and a couple of tall guys,” Manuwa said. “And my pad men have been holding my pads a bit higher, as well. So I’ve gotten used to punching higher and things like that. We’ve worked on normal stuff for a southpaw, and normal stuff for a guy taller than me. As a striker, it’s always a little concern because you’re not fighting a normal, orthodox striker. So things have been a little bit different. He’s got a strong left hand, and I can’t be walking into that. We’ve just been tweaking a few things.”

Manuwa owns all 12 of his wins by stoppage with 11 knockouts or TKOs, plus a submission. And though his win over Kingsbury was because doctors wouldn’t allow the American to continue with a left eye that had swollen shut, Manuwa believes he would’ve gotten the stoppage in the third round, one way or another.

He’s also not one to mince words about what he’s looking for when he steps into the octagon. Most home-run hitters say looking for the long ball doesn’t help. But Manuwa doesn’t think that way.

“I’m always thinking knockout – 100 percent,” he said. “Any combination I put together is always for a knockout or a stoppage. But in the Kyle Kingsbury fight, I learned how to pace myself. A knockout doesn’t always come.”

Diabate twice has been submitted in the UFC. But he hasn’t been knocked out since Mauricio “Shogun” Rua stopped him in a PRIDE fight in 2006. If Manuwa becomes the first to do that in more than six years, he’ll certainly hear his name in discussions one more notch up the 205-pound ladder.

And if that leads to bigger fights that can get him an eventual title shot, that’s exactly what Manuwa is looking for.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he said. “I’m not here to be a statistic or just another fighter. I’m working toward a title shot and being the best light heavyweight in the world. That’s what I wake up in the morning for – to be the best in the world. That’s my long-term goal in the UFC.”